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Getting the Tents Ready

Labor Day Weekend is the time. This is the time my Son and I have planned our next backpacking adventure. We are going to the mountains!

The key to a successful backpacking trip is proper planning and good equipment. Today we went through our equipment, decided what we have and what we need. Today we started our lists.

Shelter is a high priority when you are out in the wilderness. We are ultra light backpackers and we attempt to shave off ounces whenever possible. I have been able to get my winter pack, with 5 days of food, down to around 38 pounds. Light weight yet effective shelter is a must. Our goal is less than 2-1/2 pounds. My Son has a bivy tent and I take a kelty tarp. His tent is off market, but a nice tent none the less. With poles and stakes it weighs around 2-1/2lbs. My Kelty tarp is the large tarp. I like the large tarp because it can be used as a gathering place and is nice to sleep under. In a major storm I can roll up in it with my sleeping bag and stay warm and dry. My Kelty Tarp weighs in at around 2 pounds with stakes. I use my walking stick as a pole.

 We have not been backpacking in a couple years so today we decided to prepare the tents for our trip. Preparing a tent for a trip means seam sealing and waterproofing.

There are many ways and many products to complete the waterproofing process. I am going to share how I waterproof a shelter.

We set up our shelters to make sure that we had all the parts. Once the tent is set up it is time to silicone. Spray silicone or spray waterproofing, is inexpensive and works well. When spraying silicone on your shelter you spray it like you were spraying spray paint trying to get a good coat but not to thick. Be sure to focus on the seams. During a warm afternoon it takes around about to dry fully. Your tent is now waterproofed.  

Waterproofing is not enough. If you are going to have a leak on the trail it will probably be through a seam. Seam sealing is the next step. There are lots of seam sealers out there. Some are rather pricey. I use an inexpensive sealer that can be bought in any camping section at K-Mart, Wallmart or Target. I have had good luck with the lower end seam seal.

Turn your tent inside out and apply the sealer per directions. It is not hard to do. A hard flat surface is necessary to apply the sealer to the seam. The key to seam sealing is being slow and steady. Take your time and get the sealer into all the seams. Let your tent dry over night and put in it's sack.

Your shelter is now ready to go. This process should last one or two seasons with no leak problems.

I will continue to make updates on the upcoming backpacking trip.

Backpacking Trip Update 2012

My son and I are planning a backpack trip this Labor Day Weekend. I am planning more updates as the trip grows nearer.

We have decided to go up to the Chattahoochee National Forest which is located in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. I am familiar with much of the Georgia side of the National Forest. I have backpacked many times in Georgia. We are thinking mainly about the Benton Mackaye Trail or maybe some off trails.

We used to do the AT (Appalachian Trail) but over the years the AT has become somewhat of a backpacker super highway. I go out in the wilderness to get away, especially from our modern society and the people. I like to be alone, in this case alone with my son and my thoughts. I don't want to drive hundreds of miles to get away and find myself stuck around several backpackers. A few years ago we were hiking the AT in November and we camped a mile away from a shelter and there were probably around 20 people camped out at the shelter. A mile away we could still hear them most of the night.

Well any way I have ordered maps for the North Carolina part of the National Forest and maps for the Benton Mackaye Trail. An interesting side note is that Benton Mackaye was the driving force behind the AT becoming a National Trail.

When I go out I usually put together my own food. But this year I found some Mountain House Freeze Dried Grub at a discounted price. This year I thought I would try some prepackaged food. I will still put some food together. I will make some jerky, a spicy Gorp and a Sweet Gorp (Gorp = Good Ole Raisins and Peanuts). Most seasoned backpackers have their own favorite Gorp mixes. Gorp and Jerky is great for snacks and lunch when you are on the trail. I will bring my standard block of cheese wrapped in cloth. Cheese has a little weight to it but it is a nice addition and as long as it is not to hot will last a long time on the trail. On the first night I like to indulge by taking a steak I have frozen and a potatoes. By the time I am ready to eat the first night the steak is thawed and I have a steak and fried potatoes. That is a welcomed meal and since it is the first night the added weight is well worth the meal.

What I will make for sure are my morning drinks. I don't drink coffee much so that is not a problem on the trail. What I do like on the trail in the morning is chocolate carnation instant breakfast. I get myself a ziplock bag and add my instant breakfast and a some powdered milk. When I am ready to drink I heat up water and add it to my mix (in a cup, not the ziplock bag). The added powdered milk adds to the consistency.

I bought myself a new trowel for the trip. My old one had a crack in it. My last trowel had seen one to many backpacking trips and developed a crack. Going to the bathroom is tricky in the woods and you don't want your trowel to snap when you need it. I like this trowel from Coghlans. Most of their camping supplies are to much for the trail but they make a great trowel. It is light weight, strong, easy to see in the dark and the price is right. If you are wondering what you need a trowel for I would recommend the book How to Sh*t in the Woods: Environmentally Sound Approach to a Lost Art by Kathleen Meyer. This book has everything you will need to have a pleasant, yet environmentally friendly bathroom experience in the woods.

I like to take my trowel and wrap the handle with a good amount of Duck Tape. It proves to be a nice handle and you never know when you will need Duck Tape on the trail. Duck tape is an indispensable tool on the trail. Duck Tape makes a nice trowel handle and the bright orange trowel it is easy to see in the dark making your duck tape easily accessible. That orange trowel kinda sticks out.

When I go out on the trail I always take a lighter. Lighters are great for toilet paper (see previous paragraph). I like to know that I can light my stove or have a small fire in the rain. But I also like to know I can survive in the woods. So I usually bring a fire starter and tinder to create my own fire when I am on the trail. This year I decided on a blastmatch byUltimate Survival. The blastmatch works great for a guy with one arm. And since I have one arm I can use the blastmatch with one hand where as most fire starters you need two hands. They can be tricky. I can usually figure out a way to use them but the one handed method is much easier and I don't swear as much. As far as tinder goes I usually just usecotton balls that I keep in a ziplock. (ziplocks are a great way to keep things dry and weight little.) Bringing cotton balls means that I don't have to scrape bark of a tree or tear up a cat tail. I like to leave the wilderness as I found it and create as little damage as possible. 

 Thats all I got for now. More updates in the future.

2012 Backpack Update Three Weeks and Counting

My Son and I spent the last three days getting all out gear and food together so we could pack our backpacks. That way when it is time to go all we have to do is pick up and go.

We are now down to three weeks and counting. Our leaving date is set for labor day weekend. Our destination is still up in the air. We know we are going to the Chattahoochee National Forest in North Georgia. We have decided on one of three trails. The trails of choice are the Benton Makaye, the Bartram or the Duncan Ridge. I have packed some of the Benton Makaye. The attraction to the Benton Makaye are on two levels: difficulty and isolation. We are looking for a challenge. The Benton Makaye has much less foot traffic than many of the other long distance trails. With that being said the Bartram and Duncan Ridge have things to offer. Before a decision is made more research is necessary.

Here is a picture of my kitchen. It starts with a titanium pot with a cup that acts as a lid. Everything that I cook with fits in the pot. My esbit stove and esbit fuel for 5 days fits in the pot. Also inside my kitchen is a columbia river spork tool, a scrubber and my blastmatch fire starter. I always bring a lighter because I like to eat. But I like to test my survival skills when I am out and that is where the blastmatch comes in. I bring tinder and I find tinder and I practice my fire starting skills. Back to my kitchen. Everything fits in the pot and the pot fits in a mesh bag. Everything weighs in at around a half a pound.

I wrote in an earlier post about my GORP (good ole raisin and peanuts). This is the recipe I used this time. It always changes.
Gorp:

• raisins
• Cranraisins blueberry juice
• smoked almonds
• roasted peanuts
• banana hips
• M & Ms
• M & Ms peanut
• coconuts 

I like to use cashews but this trip they were cost prohibitive. I usually make a sweet and a spicy gorp but this year I am trying to keep costs at a minimum so we are taking sweet gorp. GORP is easy to make. You get your ingredients, mix them together and out the gorp in ziplocks. When I am on the trail I always have a small bag of gorp at hands reach whenever I want it.

We also made some jerky in the dehydrator. Jerky is a great snack on the trail and a nice addition to lunch which is usually Gorp cheese and jerky. This is the recipe I put together.

Jerky

• brown sugar
• dales sauce
• Worcester sauce
• adobo powder
• ancho chili pepper powder
• A few secret spices (a guy has to have a few secrets). 

I like a semi sweet jerky that also has a little bite to it.

Here are our packs ready to go.

My Granddaughter was in the mix and was sure her help was needed. She is my future backpacker. I started taking my son when he was around 8 years old.

Austin in August - Batman

We paid our $10 parking, the event was free, and we walked around checked out some street vendors, listened to some music and chilled out in Austin overlooking the Colorado River. We got to see the Dark Knight Bat Mobile. It was hard to get a picture with out people in around it. The Bat mobile seemed to be the most popular attraction.

Talking about Batman and such I thought this would be a good place to promote some product. A little advertising break. Here are our Batman throwing shurikens. I don't have to say anything about them. The picture speaks for itself. They're pretty cool!

Dark Knight Shurikens 

We arrived at Bat Fest several hours before the main bat event. It was sunny and it was hot. All that walking we realized we were hungry and it was time to eat. We had a decision to make. Eat at Bat Fest or go down to 1st avenue and hit a street stand. After very little discussion the decision was unanimous: Time to leave Batfest and eat at Torchy's Tacos. It is hard to find a better Taco anywhere. Once Torchy's was brought up they won hands down. We headed down to the Trailer Park Eatery to land a few world famous tacos.

Torchy's is an Austin landmark. They have been around forever and as they say they have "Damn Good Tacos". Menu choices include the trailer park, the democrat and the dirty sanchez.

We decided on the crossroads, the trailer park, the fried avavado and some street corn. All washed down with Topo Chico mineral water.

A great dinner getting us ready for 6th street and some great music.

That's all I have for now.

One Arm Don

ESKNIVES Goes to BrickFair

Brickfair came to Birmingham, Alabama and the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, this January and ESKnives was there. I have never seen so many Lego enthusiasts in one place.

ESKNIVES Family

What is Brickfair?

This comes directly from the Brickfair Website

BrickFair brings together adult fans of LEGO from across the USA (and Canada, and a few other countries) to show off their projects, great and small, and to share their passion for LEGO - the most awesome toy - ever.

Brick fair is bringing together adult Lego fans.... I don't know. I was there and I swear there was a 2 to 1 ratio of children to adults. It was obvious that the kids didn't know that that Legos are now the property of the adults. The kids were having a great time.

This was my first BrickFair, my first Lego event ever.

There were the customary Lego Protesters. They always have something to say.

Lego Protestors

We can't go anywhere without the news getting involved. That's just the price of being a celebrity.

One Arm Don and the Mrs.

What these Lego Hobbyist make out of their little toy blocks is amazing. There was no way to describe the Lego convention in words. Presenting a few of my pictures might be the best way to give the reader an idea of what was going on in the world of Legos.

Alabama 5 Star Restaurant

Alabama Space and Rocket Center

Battleship

Ready for Battle

Gas Station

City

More City

Coke Building

Let's go swimming!

Knights in Battle

I had a wonderful time with the Family taking in the sites.

That's all I have for now.

One Arm Don

Extremely-Sharp and Big Chiefs

ESKNIVES and Big Chiefs ESKNIVES has been helping Big Chiefs for several years. We are proud to help them out.

The first step was to get with full-time teachers and find out which students could or would benefit from any kind of program that centered on respect, hard work, and fun.  The most we have had were 30 kids and 20 volunteers, and because of drastic reductions in donations that number fell to 18 kids in 2012.

We take the kids camping, hiking, fishing and do projects like building bird houses and feeders.  Other projects include building holiday baskets and delivering meals.  The largest project is what we call Firewood for the Poor.  There have been landowners locally that have had logging crews come in and make messes of their property.  We go in and cut into firewood the trees that were left behind and down by the loggers.  We do not cut standing timber." Big Chiefs is what we look for when sponsoring organizations. They are small group of guys that just want to help kids. The kids are their main focus. We need more of that. We at ESKNIVES tip our hats to the guys at Big Chiefs.

Mississippi Bill Harris

Catch and Release: Let my Granddaughter Catch the Big One

Catch and Release began in 1952. The state of Michigan was experiencing high costs stocking hatchery raised trout. Michigan designed catch and release to reduce the cost. Fast track to 2013; Catch and release is largely promoted to avoid over fishing and ensure the sport of fishing for generations to come.

The ESKNIVES compound is on Guntersville lake. Bass fishing is a big deal here on the lake. From early spring to late fall we have a Bass tournament almost every weekend. If we did not practice catch and release Bass fishing would become a very boring sport.

If you plan to catch and release then learning proper techniques to reduce damage to skin, to scales, and slime layers that make fish vulnerable to fish fungus and skin infections, is essential.

Here are some fast simple rules:

1. Before handling your fish make sure your hands are wet. Dry hands remove the protective slime on fishes skin. Never use gloves or a rag. Gloves and rags can be death sentences for fish.

2. How long can you hold your breath? That is about as long as you should keep a fish out of water. This usually leaves plenty of time to remove your fish from the line, take pictures and return your fish to the water.

3. Be careful removing the hook. Tearing the hook is a sure way to start a fungus. You can purchase a hook remover. I use a pair of thin needle nose. They seem to work better than manufactured hook removers. If the hook is hard to remove the best bet is to push it through and cut off the barb. The hook removes safely and hooks are easily replaced

4.When releasing your fish move your fish backwards and forwards in the water. This moves water through the gills and helps revive your fish. When the fish begins to struggle and starts to swim let the fish go. Most fish are ready to go when placed in the water.

My Granddaughter is not yet old enough to fish. But when she is I want her to have the same thrills I have had landing that big one. It is good to be part of the solution giving us all the chance to enjoy fishing.

That is all I have for now,
One Arm Don

Extremely Sharp Life: Welcomes Guests Bloggers

We are excited to start our guest bloggers series at Extremely-Sharp Life.

Do you have something great to write on that fits with the ES life?  More guest bloggers wanted! We would love to hear from you!  Contact us via twitter or comment on this post and we would love to talk with you!   Over the next few months you can expect to read some awesome content from all kinds of Extremely-Sharp folks. Hunters, fishermen, outdoor survivalists, professionals who specialize in adventure, wildlife photographers, and much much more!

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